Chapter Two - First Mission
Jaina's POV
I saw the Shadow Vault already from afar. It was a huge fortress, by far not as huge as Icecrown Citadel but very big for a fortress. This fortress had once belonged to the Scourge, belonged to us before the Forsaken under the lead of Sylvanas Windrunner had taken it away from Lich King's control.
The fortress was surrounded by huge mountains. The main building was round and had the shape of a tower. Next to it stood two turrets, which looked more like lookout points and were built into the mountains. The fortress was on a much higher level, meaning we had to follow a steep path to reach it. I turned around and looked at the massive army of tens of thousands of ghouls, skeletons and other undead creatures which did their best to hid behind a large mountain so that no defender would notice them.
Next to me stood Selania who would lead this army into the battle. She was wearing a typical helmet for a death knight. It was a black helmet which resembled a skull and had horns attached on the skullcap. She was observing the fortress and waited for the perfect moment to strike. She had already told me her plan.
The main army will charge at the keep while the gargoyles, flying nerubians and the two frost wyrms will take care of their defensive constructs. My task was to kill as many Forsaken and other defenders as I could. I didn't see any problem with my task, still, Selania was doubting my skills. She seemed to have a strong dislike against me and I didn't know why. Maybe she was jealous because of Arthas. The Lich King was giving me more attention than her. As long as she didn't bully me, I will be fine with her.
We waited for another half an hour. I noticed that I really got impatient but I didn't say anything and continued to wait. Selania turned around and looked at me. "The change of shift is happening right now. We will attack them now where they are distracted" she said. I nodded and tightened my grip on my staff. Selania gave the army the signal to follow her. These mindless creatures did as they were told and followed her along the path to the fortress.
I sent frostbolts at the first defenders, who served as scouts, to kill them before they could alarm the others. They dropped dead, unfortunately, they produced noises when they hit the ground. Luckily, nobody had noticed their deaths and our march towards the fortress. A necromancer stepped in front of me and raised the fallen scouts.
The undead army rushed over the icy ground, still, no defender had noticed us to this point. They would notice us at the latest when the loud stamping of the undead, especially of the abominations, would be hearable for them. I saw two dozen defenders approaching us as soon as we reached the stairs which would lead us to the forecourt of the fortress. I killed three of them with a huge fireball, two of them with sharp ice missiles and I blasted one with an arcane shot. The other defenders were quickly taken out by Selania and the undead. Five of our necromancers bolstered our army by raising the fallen guards.
A group of about fifty Forsaken and twenty orcs approached us. A few of them were lifted in the air by gargoyles and dropped elsewhere, the others were quickly taken out by Selania and me. I haven't seen her fighting before but I had to admit that her fighting style was very impressive. She was swinging the two massive swords with ease and annihilated at least three soldiers with one swing. She had such a brute force that she was even able to hack an enemy abomination in two halves with one strike. I, on the other hand, needed a combination of a few spells to take such a monstrosity down. It was no wonder that she was one of the Lich King's best and most estimated commanders. She knew a lot about strategic and she was a very strong fighter.
But I also did very well with killing these defenders. I could kill an orc or a Forsaken by using only one spell and I managed to take out a group of twelve Forsaken by freezing their feet to the ground and then letting a hail of sharp ice splinters raining down on them. It would be a lot easier to kill them with fire but that would mean we couldn't raise them afterwards. Commander Wildreaper had accentuated that we should raise as many fallen enemies as possible and I wouldn't dare to oppose her and make her dislike me more than she already did.
We killed more and more defenders without losing too many members of our army. We were able to raise most of our fallen ghouls and other undead creatures again, only a few of them were burned by their mages before our necromancers could make their wicked spells work. We managed to drive the defenders back to the gate of the fortress, strengthening our army with each soldier we slew. We increased the influence of the Scourge with each part of this territory we took and claimed as ours.
More and more members of the Alliance and the Horde came out of the fortress and charged at us and our army. I noticed that I didn't hesitate to kill Alliance soldiers nor do I feel bad about killing them. It was frightening that I didn't care about the Alliance anymore. Before my death, I would have done anything to protect the Alliance and keep peace with the Horde. Now, I slew them one by one with my spells.
Most of these Alliance soldiers recognized me, they got shocked expressions and sometimes even stopped fighting for a moment, which lead to the deaths of a few of them. Even some members of the Horde recognized me, they knew me because I have worked as an ambassador to keep the peace between the Alliance and the Horde.
The frost wyrms and the gargoyles took care, like expected, of their catapults and canons on the towers. The frost wyrms also froze in a lot of approaching defenders so that we could kill them easily. The gargoyles lifted more and more soldiers up and brought them away, dropping them from a very tall height.
I turned around when my ears recognized a load roar. A huge abomination, larger than most of ours, charged towards me. It was really fast for its little legs, somehow, I wasn't able to react fast enough and it hit me with a punch of his massive fist. I flew a few meters away, landing hard on the ground. I heard Selania mutter something like 'This useless bitch' before she jumped in front of the abomination and separated one of its arms from its body. I gritted my teeth and got up, lifting my wand to cast a huge pyroblast. While I was busy with casting, Selania hacked its remaining arms off. The pyroblast hit the abomination and finished it. Fortunately, the fire didn't consume too much of its body so that the necromancers were still able to raise it.
I looked into the crystal of my wand, observing the wound the hit of the abomination had caused. I used necromantic magic, in which I had been trained a few days ago by Kel'Thuzad himself, to 'heal' this wound. In life, I had never thought I would be taught by this wicked necromancer. Like many other things, my death had changed a lot. I didn't feel any mercy or affection for the warriors of the Alliance and the Horde. Instead, I felt connected to the Lich King, to Arthas, to the Scourge and every other undead creature.
My dreams of an Azeroth in peace had changed to a dream where Azeroth belongs to the Scourge and to my master. In life, I was hoping to get the good Arthas back. I was still hoping that but I would be also satisfied to be together with this version of Arthas. Somehow, I still felt the extraordinary strong connection to him. Maybe it was because of the way how Frostmourne's magic works or it was because I always fell for Arthas, maybe both. I only knew one thing, I wanted to serve Arthas as best as possible and become his Queen, his co-ruler and his most powerful servant.
I heard Selania shouting something at me, bringing me out of my thoughts. I blinked around, noticing that a few Forsaken were coming towards me. I reacted quickly, creating an ice barrier around me which blocked the attacks of these Forsaken. I jumped backwards and froze their feet to the ground. I killed the mage before he was able to melt the ice. The others were taken down my ghouls and skeletons who jumped on them and worked on them quickly.
We continued to fight. Getting to the entrance of the fortress took longer than we had expected. More and more defenders came out of it and they even got assistance from other cities which came through portals. In the end, we managed to reach entrance after three days of constant fighting. I have lost count on how many enemies I had slain. Maybe a few hundred, maybe a few thousand. I didn't know. We broke through the mass of defenders, which had guarded the entrance, and we entered the fortress.
The room was very huge. The floor was covered by stones plates which looked like skulls. The walls, the floor and the ceiling were made out of a very dark grey material which was decorated by various symbols. The ceiling was supported by eight massive columns which created kind of a corridor in the middle of the room. I spotted the leader of this Forsaken base.
His name was Duke Lankral. He was one of Lich King's former death knights who had broken free from his control when Ner'zhul had become weaker. He was wearing a typical death knight armour with a dark colour scheme and a massive sword with a long, red glowing blade. He had been once a human of average size, he had long grey hair, a grey full beard and blue glowing eyes. Currently, he was fighting against several of our ghouls, taking them out one by one without a problem.
I killed a few humans who dared to approach me, while I walked to him. Selania was faster and rushed to him before I was able to cast any spell. She attacked him but he managed to block both of her swords with his blade. She managed to knock him back with all of her strength and attacked him again but he was able to block her attack once again. I walked to the left to get a better angle at him. I shot a frostbolt at him, hitting and freezing his left foot. I was about to send another spell at him when I noticed that an undead elf was charging at me. I turned around and cast a frostbolt but the elf, with the long orange hair, dodged my ability and hit me with a forceful kick.
He hit me with another kick and sent me to the ground, my staff dropped out of my hand and rolled over the floor. He aimed a swift blow, with his dagger, at my head but I avoided it at the last moment by rolling away. He didn't stop attacking me and even managed to hit me. The sharp dagger pierced through my left shoulder with ease. I hissed, feeling no real pain but an unpleasant feeling.
The rogue drew his dagger out and was about to stab me again, but this time I was faster and pierceda huge and sharp ice shard through his chest. The shard was not as strong as it would have been if I would have carried my staff but It was still strong enough to stun the elf for a moment. I shot an arcane blast at him, knocking him away. I got up slowly and finished the weakened elf with another frostbolt.
I didn't hesitate and raised him immediately, making him loyal to me and to the Scourge. I looked around and noticed that Selania had defeated the Duke. She picked up my staff and walked to me, handing it to me as soon as she reached me.
"Do not lose it again Proudmoore. You should watch over the master's gifts more carefully instead of losing them" she hissed and charged at the next enemy before I was able to respond to her. The glare she had given me when she had walked to me, told me that she still didn't like me. I was wondering why. I had done a good job at killing these defenders, still, she wasn't respecting. Maybe because of her higher rank or her arrogance. I didn't know and I didn't care at all. As long as she didn't annoy me, she could think of me whatever she wanted.
We slew the remaining defenders and bolstered our ranks with them. Unfortunately, their mages had managed to burn a third of the corpses of our and their fallen soldiers, meaning that we had gotten fewer creatures than we had expected. Still, we had gained more creatures than we had lost, meaning our ranks were stronger while our enemies had lost a few thousand soldiers, who will never return.
I smiled when I observed the new recruits in our army. I may have known a few of these humans before the Lich King turned me into a Frost Lich but I didn't really mind killing these meaningless humans. They had been in my way, I had to kill them to prove the Lich King, to prove Arthas, that I was worthy and useful for him. I didn't want to disappoint him, and I know I didn't disappoint him this day. I had fought very well. I had given my best to help Selania leading the Scourge to victory. Our victory was glorious, the undead creatures were roaring and the few necromancers, who were still alive were, cheering while the undead necromancers didn't show any kind of emotion. Not even joy.
I waited until Selania had decided who will stay in the fortress and who will follow us back to Icecrown Citadel. A third of our army, around ten thousand undead creatures, stayed in the fortress while the rest followed me and the commander back to the Citadel. Duke Lankral had been turned and now served for the Scourge again. He will be in charge of the Shadow Vault and make sure that no one will retake it.
We decided against using a portal, instead, we chose to walk back to Icecrown Citadel because such a huge portal for such a numerous army would cost a lot of strength to keep it up long enough that every creature could step through. It would be impossible to transfer every single undead creature through this portal before it would be closed.
Our journey took almost a week until we reached the gates of the citadel. Thousands of undead creatures were spread all over the area in front of the gate. Nearly a hundred huge undead giants walked around and patrolled the area. Frost wyrms flew circles around this area and watched everything from above.
A powerful and long-lasting spell protected these walls. The ground of the forecourt was uneven and partly split. The massive building behind it, which size outclassed every other building on Azeroth, was no other than Icecrown Citadel. It was impossible for me to guess how tall it was in total, it was just very very very huge. Even walking through the forecourt took a while for us, not to mention the time we needed to climb the wide and very tall stairs. Hundreds of undead creatures, mostly gargoyles and nerubians, stood on top of the massive walls, which bordered at the sides of the stairs. They were looking down at us.
We came to the massive front door of the citadel which had triple the size of the largest undead giant I ever had seen. We didn't hesitate and entered the powerful but also spooky citadel as soon as the gate was opened.
Later this day, I found myself walking around the creepy corridors of Icecrown Citadel. I still wasn't fully used to the gloominess of this horrible place but it didn't frighten me anymore like it had done when I had been there for the first time. Being undead meant that people got used to such places over the time, in my case it took longer than for other undead creatures.
I walked until I spotted the Lich King's private chamber at the end of the corridor. I was wondering why he had a private chamber. Arthas was a death knight before he became the Lich King, which meant that he didn't need to rest and sleep like every other undead creature.
Suddenly, the door to his chamber opened and Selania stepped out of it. Her white hair was messy, she looked more relaxed and less tensed than she normally did. She stopped in front of the door and adjusted her armour and her hair a little. She walked forwards, passing me without looking at me. Her lips were formed to a scornful and satisfied smile.
What had she done in his chamber? And why did she looked so relaxed and satisfied? Could it be? No... there has to be another explanation for her happy mood. I don't believe that she... She and the Lich King... No that doesn't make sense at all.
I felt a wave of jealousy hit me when the only logical explanation came in my mind. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to believe it. There was no way that the Lich King still felt something like sexual desire. The human Arthas had lost control over his body on that day when he had picked up Frostmourne. With this part gone, also his feelings, needs and desires had become meaningless. At least I had believed that until this day.
I knew it was not my Arthas, not the Arthas I once have loved, but imagine him with another woman filled me with rage and jealousy, a large amount of jealousy. I didn't know that I could feel other negative feelings except for anger and hatred. I felt betrayed. Of course, I knew that between me and the Lich King didn't exist any kind of a relationship except serfdom but that didn't stop me from being jealous and feeling a strong dislike and hatred for Selania.
It was really odd feeling these kinds of emotions. I never have been jealous in life because I never had feared that the Arthas I had loved, would cheat on me with another woman. He had loved me so much but still had broken up with me because he hadn't felt to be ready for a real relationship. Over the time, we would have come together again if the plague and the rise of the Scourge would not have happened.
Now, I could only accept that Arthas was gone and that the Lich King was a completely different person. I was still hoping that there was another explanation for Selania coming out of his private chamber. My explanations weren't logical, I was telling myself that Arthas had no feeling and I managed to convince myself that the Lich King had no mortal desires like sexual desire. I convinced myself that I was interpreting too much.
But it turned out what I was wrong. Indeed, the Lich King had a sexual desire which I learned the hard way.
A few weeks later he came in my room, which I had furnished well enough for my liking. He didn't say anything. He just walked to me, turned me around and pressed me against the wall. By the loud sound of a heavy object which hit the ground, I could tell that he had taken off his helmet and had dropped it onto the floor. He was whispering something to me which sounded like 'You did a very good job during the assault on Shadow Vault. I should reward you for this'. He started to kiss my neck, feeling his cold lips on my skin caused that shivers ran down my spine but also excitement built up in my body.
He took off his gauntlets and undressed me, exploring my body with his cold hands. His touch was a lot colder than I remember but it still felt good. Although he was about to abuse me or at least force me to have sex with him, I didn't resist him. I could have fought against him but I didn't and the reason for that was not that I was his servant and should obey him. The reason why I didn't resist was that I wanted it too, I just didn't realize it at this moment.
In life, I would have resisted against everyone who would be have been too obtrusive. I would have even resisted Arthas if he would have tried to force me to do something with him which I didn't want to do. But now, I didn't care at all. I felt anticipation rose up as he continued with his foreplay. I let him have his way with me, not because I have to obey him. All in all, I wanted it too for a reason I couldn't explain to myself.
His thrusts were forceful, he was only carrying about his pleasure, not mine. Still, it felt really good for me and I enjoyed it. It felt strange to have sex with an undead person. He felt very cold in me. The sex was not as good as the sex when had gotten when we both had been alive and together but it was still acceptable. He didn't look directly at me, not for a single time. He just stood behind me and caused pleasure for both of us.
He didn't stay when we were done with having sex like he would have done when we had been alive. He left immediately after he had put on his armoury. He didn't say a single word to me and I said nothing to him. We just kept this memory in our minds and decided to never speak about it again.
His attitude toward me hadn't changed at all. He still treated me as one of his minions, even if it seemed that I had a special rank under his most favourite servants. Selania, on the other hand, seemed to dislike me even more, as if she would know what Arthas and I had done together. She sent hatefully and disliking glances at me every time we met and she ignored me most of the time when I tried to speak with her about a topic which wasn't about our duties or the Scourge in general. I tried to get closer to her but she seemed to prefer keeping distance to me.
Such a shame, I could really need a friend. I tried to speak to other members of the Scourge but most of them were brainless creatures without personality, only the death knights and the necromancers had some kind of a personality. I avoided the necromancers because the only talked about murder and violence. I only spoke to them when I wanted to improve my necromantic abilities. Most of the death knights didn't talk at all or were just boring.
Without friends or other people, I could talk to, I had nothing to do at all during the entire day. I didn't need to sleep so I had a lot of free time. Too much time for my liking. Most of the time, I studied mage spells and necromancy. Sometimes, I visited a few, by the Scourge occupied, villages and met their leaders or other persons of high military rank. These visits turned out to be boring most of the times.
Sometimes, I spotted a group of living who dared to invade our lands, to spy us out or find out the current situation in Icecrown. I killed all of them, raising them afterwards. Except for these little pastimes, I really had nothing to do during the entire day.
Weeks later, I found myself in my room, leaning against window-sill while I regarded the sad and icy wasteland around the citadel. Nothing really had happened during these weeks, except for a few attacks of smaller troops of the Scourge which had taken a few villages back under their control.
The air met my skin but I didn't feel the cold. I never have thought that I would miss the feeling of the cold wind against my hot skin. There were so many other things I was missing. Eating for example. Not only exquisite food, but I also missed eating casual food. I missed the taste of bread, meat, water, wine and many other food and drinks. I missed falling slowly in a deep slumber every evening and waking up every day. I missed walking on the beach. I miss the feeling of wet sand against my bare feet. I missed taking a sunbath.
I miss so many things but there were also a few things which had annoyed me every day, which I won't miss. Feeling powerless after a few spells belonged to these things. As an undead, I was able to cast a lot of spells without getting exhausted too soon. I had trained a lot during the last weeks, meaning that I had gained a lot more stamina for casting spells. Currently, I was able to cast five times more spells than I had been able to cast when I had been alive.
I was wondering what the future was holding for me. I was wondering how my destiny will look like. Do I have to serve Arthas until the end of the time? Will Arthas get free from the Lich King's and Frostmourne's grip? Will he become a good person one day? Will I become a bad person? Will I become a mass murdering monster? Will I become the Queen of the Lich King? Or will I just end as one of his servants? Will the Lich King be stopped one day? Would that mean that Arthas and I die in the end? Will the good side win over the evil side or reversed?
There were so many questions in my head about the future but I couldn't answer one of them. Everything could happen. The question was could I influence my fate or am I unable to change my destiny?
I didn't know what will await me. I was not even sure if I want to know what would happen in the future. Knowing too much about the future was always bad and often resulted in changes in the timeline. Even the smallest changes could have drastic consequences.
Suddenly, I was brought back out of my thoughts by a loud knock at the door. "You can come in" I shouted and continued to look out of the window because I expected that Selania would come in. I noticed a moment later that it wasn't Selania because my ears recognized the sound produced by a man who cleared his throat. I turned around, my eyes widened in shock and surprise when I recognized who was standing in my room.
It was the undead version of Tirion Fordring who was standing in my door, arms crossed in front of his chest. He looked way much paler, he had the typical blue glowing eyes of a death knight, his hair and beard were tousled and he was wearing a dark coloured version of his former paladin armour on which back the corrupted Ashbringer hung. He saluted to me and spoke with a deep voice "The Lich King wants to see you".
I felt guilty while looking at him. He died because of me. He would have been alive like many others if I wouldn't have warned Arthas. I always had considered Tirion as a friend, even if not as a close one but he was always friendly to me and we fought against the Scourge in many battles and skirmishes.
Him being turned to un undead really filled me with dismay. I felt really guilty but on the other hand, I didn't regret my decisions. The Lich King would have died if I hadn't warned him, meaning I would never have been able to get my Arthas back. I was still believing that I could reach the good Arthas, maybe not today or in the near future but I was pretty sure that I will reach him one day and stop him from conquering the world. Until that day I had to serve for him and do whatever he wants to me, even if I have to kill people I once considered as my friends.
"Tell him that I'm coming"
"Yes, my lady" he responded and bowed to me before he left and closed the door behind him.
My lady? I can't remember the last time when someone had called me a lady. I remembered that Arthas had called me 'his lady' to mock and tease me. Nowadays, I was everything but a Lady. I was the mighty Frost Lich Jaina, former Archmage of the Kirin Tor and current servant of the Lich King. I knew that I was one of the highest respected servants of the Lich King.
Fortunately, no one really knew that I had been turned. According to our spies, the people think that I was still missing. Some even considered me as dead. I have heard that my mother had held a funeral for me, although she had no corpse to bury. This had surprised me when I had heard that, considering that I didn't have the best reputation after I was declared as jointly responsible for my father's death.
I wish I could see my mother right now, speaking with her and holding her in my arms but the people of Kul Tiras would execute me as soon as they would see me because I belonged to the Scourge. Maybe I can meet her one day. HOPEFULLY, I can meet her one day under better circumstances.
I spent a few minutes with thinking about my past, about the decisions I had made. I thought about my friends and family before I took my staff and walked out of my room, locking the door behind me.
Lich King's POV
There she was. Jaina Proudmoore in all her glory. I had to admit that she looked very beautiful in her new Frost Lich form. She had been a beauty in life but death had made her even more beautiful. I had watched her over the past weeks and had found out that she was doing fine. It had surprised me that she had gotten used to her new body and her new 'life' so quickly, considering that most undead creatures with a free will had their struggles with their new situation. I could have putten her under full control so that she wouldn't be able to disobey my orders but I hadn't done it for some reason I couldn't explain.
I'm not sure why I had done it but It seems that full control over her wasn't required. She was fulfilling my tasks without questioning them. Unless she doesn't disobey me, I don't think that she will cause any problems. She had once turned her back on me when she had left me in front of the gates of Stratholme. Hopefully, she won't do the same mistake again. Hopefully for her. I would never forgive her if she would betray me once again. The consequences of a betrayal would be grievous.
I was wondering how my future with her would look like. I have promised her to take her as my queen. She may think that I still feel something for her but I actually have no feelings for her, no romantic feelings at least. I regarded her more as a tool, like every other servant. A tool which could be useful and bring me many victories. Deep inside I may feel something for her but these feelings were buried under hatred, anger, greed for power and other negative emotions caused by the influence of the Frostmourne.
Frostmourne spoke to me like it usually did. It told me to keep an eye on this woman. I didn't know why but I knew better than to ignore its whispers. Frostmourne had been always with me and had shown me the right way. Currently, it was supporting me in my campaign against the weakened mortals who had dared to attack Icecrown and had nearly killed me if Jaina wouldn't have warned me. I was deeply grateful to her but I didn't show it.
She was standing in the middle of the platform, looking at me full of expectation. That fool Tirion Fordring had brought her to me as I had ordered. She bowed to me and got up when I gave her the signal. Her blue glowing eyes looked at me. She didn't show any sign of intimidation, although I had abused her. She didn't seem to be angry or hurt, I was pretty sure that she had enjoyed it as much as I had.
"Hello Jaina"
She responded quickly. She wasn't using my first name as she had done in life, instead, she addressed me as her master which was a good sign. She didn't seem to resist me and accepted the current situation she was in.
"I'm sure you want to know why I have called for you?" I asked, my piercing blue glowing eyes rested on her.
"Yes, master" she responded and looked continued to look at me.
"I want that you will lead my army to the Argent Vanguard and drive these mortals out of Icecrown. I want to conquer each territory in Northrend before I will plan my campaign to conquer the other continents on Azeroth. Tirion and Commander Wildreaper will assist you but you will be in charge of the attack. Plan it carefully"
"As you wish, master" she shouted and bowed to me. I lifted my hand, telling her that she could go. She nodded and looked at me one more time before she walked to the teleporting platform and disappeared through it.
I sat on my thorn, eyes closed while I used my dark magical abilities to watch over the activity of my left troops. My army was a lot weaker than it had been before the inhabitants of Azeroth had sent their best fighters against me. They had decimated tens of thousands undead creatures without losing too many of their soldiers. They had burned a lot of my servants so that my necromancers couldn't raise them. But now these twenty-five heroes were gone and served me in death. My army was recovering slowly from the massacre in the citadel.
Currently, most of my troops stayed in Icecrown. Only little patrols, spy troops or other groups were stationed in the other territories of Northrend. Soon, I will conquer every territory in Northrend and then I will continue with the other continents on Azeroth. Soon, nobody will be able to stop me. The living had lost so many strong fighters, Tirion included. Soon, everyone will serve me. For now, I have to wait patiently until my army will be as strong as it once was and then they will run over the living.
I turned my head to the teleporting platform as a familiar person appeared through it. It was Commander Wildreaper who walked straight to me. She was the only servant who dared to climb the stairs to the Frozen Throne and stand next to me. She bowed to me as soon as she reached me.
"What do you want Commander Wildreaper?" I asked and looked at her, my blue glowing eyes met hers.
"Commander Wildreaper? Seriously? You are calling me as if nothing between us had happened" she exclaimed and looked at me. I didn't get intimidated by her angry look, instead, I looked at her calmly and with a cocky smile on my lips.
"Well, what should I say"
"You could call me by my first name as you have done before. You can't deny what is between us, master"
"Fine. What do you want Selania?" I asked her, my hand reached out and toyed with her hair.
"Well, I have nothing to do right now, so I thought I could spend time with you where we could do something else than staying in your room and doing certain activities" she responded and looked at me full of expectation.
"You have never spent your limited free time with me before. What has changed?" I asked curiously. I looked in her face and recognized a hint of jealousy, strong jealousy. I knew what exactly was going on in her mind. She was jealous that I was treating Jaina better than any other of my servants, sometimes I paid more attention to what Jaina was doing than to what Selania was doing for the Scourge.
Selania was a beautiful, strong-willed woman who would do everything for the Scourge. She would sacrifice her life for the Scourge without hesitation. She would do everything for our victory. She was absolutely loyal to me. She even killed her own husband and made him to a mindless ghoul because I had demanded that to test her loyalty.
Jaina on the other hand... I was not fully sure if I could trust her. She could become a very powerful and valuable resource for the Scourge if she would prove me that I could fully trust her. She had saved me from Tirion and she had killed Alliance members without hesitation during the siege of the Shadow Vault. I had given her the opportunity to have a free will and a personality. Hopefully, she would use it wisely and wouldn't betray me.
It would be a waste of such a beauty with such an enormous potential. I would feel bad if I would have to kill her. I had no romantic feelings for her but she still was important to me. I couldn't explain why but it was undeniable that Jaina's true death would leave an emptiness in me, in my frozen and not beating heart.
Selania didn't respond verbally, instead, she looked at me with a grim expression on her face.
"It is because of Jaina, isn't it?" I asked and observed her reaction. She flinched slightly when her ears recognized the name, her eyelids fluttered for a few moments.
"I don't trust her" she hissed.
"I know that but that's not the reason why you are so upset. You are actually jealous of her" I laughed amused and continued to look at her. She had crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away, not wanting to admit that I was speaking the truth.
"I'm not jealous, at least not of her" she responded but I knew that she was lying. I could read it in her eyes when she looked back at me.
"You are jealous. Stop denying it Selania"
She was silent for a minute then she spoke "Okay... Maybe, I'm a little bit jealous".
"You don't need to be jealous. She means nothing to me except a valuable resource" I responded. It was not the truth, I knew but I didn't want to admit that I still cared for Jaina. I didn't want to make the mistake again and fall for this woman so that she could abandon me and hurt me in the worst way possible. I couldn't deny that my world was nothing without Jaina but I didn't want to admit it either.
"You know my feelings for you master" she said and walked closer to me.
"Yes, I know your feelings but I have already told you that I don't feel the same way"
"I know. I just want to be with you physically, if not emotionally. I don't want that this woman will change anything between us"
"She won't change our relationship" Once again I wasn't telling the truth but I didn't want to hurt Selania, at least not before a very important assault on a high priority target of my campaign. I didn't know what the future holds for me but I was pretty sure that I will be victories. Jaina Proudmoore will be the right tool the Scourge needed to be victorious this time and I will make sure that she will stay alive and serve the Scourge forever.
